How should we behave while off sick? If you’re off with stress is it okay to try to relieve the symptoms of your illness by taking a break abroad?

If the answer is ‘No’, it seems to imply curling up in a ball at home is the only acceptable way for someone to behave while off ill.

But some, including employers groups, recognise that sometimes getting away can be just the tonic needed for someone dealing with stress.

Paul Marshallsea, from Merthyr Tydfil, maintains he and his wife were advised to go on holiday by doctors after going off on leave from their jobs with stress last April.

The Merthyr Tydfil couple went to Australia’s Sunshine Coast to visit friends last December.

While there, Mr Marshallsea, 62, grabbed hold of a two metre shark’s tail as it swam into shallow waters popular with toddlers in Queensland.

Footage of the incident saw Mr Marshallsea hailed a hero in media reports across the globe.

But when the couple returned, letters from the Pant and Dowlais Boys & Girls Club they helped set up informed them they had been sacked.

Their employers suggested the footage showed he had returned to health and they were being sacked over a breach of trust.

But Robert Lloyd Griffiths, director of the Institute of Directors in Wales, said while not commenting specifically on Mr Marshallsea’s case, in general, getting away can help stressed out staff get better.

But he said it is important for those on sick leave to make their employers aware of any steps they might be taking, like going on holiday, to improve their health.

Mr Lloyd Griffiths said while no-one who is off sick with a bad back should be “doing acrobatics” he could “clearly envisage” a scenario where a holiday would help someone deal with stress.

He said: “That’s why we take holidays – to feel ready for the challenge of when we get back.”

Mr Lloyd Griffiths said “trust and integrity” is key on both sides and when one employee violates this it makes life more difficult for their colleagues.

Paddy McNaught, regional officer for north west wales with trade union Unite, said many employers will encourage stressed out workers to get away.

Mr McNaught, who also acts as the lead officer for the union for all of Wales’ local authorities, said: “There’s more chance of that person recovering and getting back into normal working practices if the company support them to get away and take a break from it completely.

“If you’re at home while you’re off work you still tend to be thinking about it so a holiday is the ideal thing to get away from it.”

Mr McNaught, who frequently deals with staff signed off with stress, said locking yourself away in bed at home is unlikely to lead to recovery.

Professor Nigel Nicholson, of the London Business School, said acceptable behaviour while off work with illness is generally left uncovered in contracts.

He said the case illustrates the need for better communication between staff recovering from illness and their employers.

Professor Nicholson, who has been researching absenteeism for 10 years, said: “If he’s off with stress and his doctor says he needs a holiday in Australia he should tell his employer that.

“If they say, ‘No’ then that has to be resolved.”

Aside from extended periods of sick leave how should we behave during shorter absences?

Is it okay to go out in the evening after being off with illness in the day?

Mr Lloyd Griffiths said in the current climate of downsized firms struggling to cope absences can cause tremendous pressure for colleagues.

He added: “If they are going out in the evening (after being off in the day) they have to make a value judgement and ask themselves, ‘What would my colleagues think of me doing this?’

“How many people say they are sick and then do something else?

“Employers need to be sure people are not pulling the wool over their eyes – especially in these difficult times.”

Statistics released in 2008 suggested ill-health related absenteeism cost the Welsh economy around £500m a year.

And Caerphilly GP David Bailey is another who believes there are occasions when holidays abroad might reduce that burden on the economy by aiding recovery.

Dr Bailey, 55, who has worked as a GP for 27 years, said: “I don’t think you can say that because you’re too stressed to work you’re too ill to travel.

“It (a holiday) might be therapeutic in exactly the same way as we advise an awful lot of people who are off with depression and stress to go to the gym because that almost certainly would do them good from a medical perspective.”

The medic, who said though he’s never specifically told a stressed patient to go on holiday, he has recommended they get away from their environment.

He added: “In the same way taking a break may do them good as well, though I don’t think that’s carte blanche to say everybody should go off with stress and go on holiday with a completely clear conscience.

“But on the other hand there are circumstances where it might be the right thing to do to speed up the recovery.”